Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Nine months after and 4,500 kilometers of drifting, the debris from tsunami devastated Japan are being washed ashore on the western coast of the USA.

Last week on the coast of Washington state, nine polyethylene buoys that belonged to a Japanese oyster farmer surfaced. Oceanographers say this will not be the last of the debris to wash ashore in the U.S. They say we can expect to see more debris off the coast of California and southern Alaska in the coming years.

It's estimated that 100 million tons of debris, including everything from car parts to furniture to and anything that floats could wash ashore. Human body parts may also be found in the debris, kept afloat by athletic shoes. People who find the personal items are asked to contact authorities, so that they may try and return them to their proper owners.